Garbage disposal device



March 17, 1953 H. M. CLARK ET AL GARBAGE DISPOSAL DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet1 Filed May 5, 1950 INVENTOR. HUBERT M- c LARK RAY A. DAHLSTROM.

March 17, 1953 H. M. CLARK ET AL GARBAGE DISPOSAL DEV-ICE 3 Sheets-Sheet'2 Filed "May 5 1950 INVENTOR.

- HUBER? M. CLARK.

B Y A. DAHLsTRom,

ATTaRN').

March 17, 1953 H. M. CLARK ET AL 2,631,297

. GARBAGE DISPOSAL DEVICE Filed May 5, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. 1HUBER! M. CLARK RAY OAHLSTROM.

ATToilef Patented Mar. 17, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GARBAGEDISPOSAL DEVICE a copartnership Application May 5, 1950, Serial No.160,192

2 Claims. (Cl. 4-187) Be it known that the undersigned have inventedcertain new and useful improvements in garbage disposal devices of whichthe following i a specification.

This application relates to garbage disposal devices and aims to providecertain new and useful improvements in such devices.

One aim and object of the present invention is to provide a garbagedisposal device of the garbage cutting or disintegrating type which isadapted to be movably positioned under a sink without being coupled tothe sink drain opening, whereby the disposal device can be utilized notonly with modern sink having large drain openings, but withold-fashioned sinks having drain openings too small to be acceptable foruse as garbage disposal outlets. This object is obtained by forming thegarbage disposal device in the form of a receptacle having an open topadapted to be closed by a movable cover, with the device being mountedto move from under the sink to a position where its top is exposedconveniently to receive garbage for disposal. In the preferredembodiment, the device is mounted upon a horizontal branch of a verticaldrain pipe under the sink to swivel on a horizontal axis perpendicularto such pipe and expose its top for receiving garbage, with water beingused to flush through the disposal device and with such pipe serving asa drain pipe for such device.

A second aim and object of the present invention is to provide a novelform of garbage cutting arrangement whose details and characteristicswill later be described.

Still further aims and object of the present invention are to providenovel details of construction of garbage disposal devices, all as willlater be described in this specification, for an understanding of whichreference should be had to the appended drawings.

In these drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of one form of garbage disposal device.

Fig. 2 is a front view.

Fig. 3 is a side view as if looking from the left of Fig. l with fulllines showing the device as if in position under a sink for operation,and with dotted lines showing the device as if swung out for receivinggarbage for disposal.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view of a kitchen sink showing the garbagedisposal unit in place for operation.

Fig. 5 is a similar view, but showing the unit swung out for receivinggarbage.

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view of the unit 2 showing the details ofconstruction of the interior of the unit, and particularly of thecutting arrangement within the unit.

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary view, similar to a part of Fig. 6, but showingcutters of the cutting arrangement in withdrawn or inoperative position.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary cross-section view.

Figs. 9 and 10 are views like Figs. 2 and 3, respectively, but showing amodified form of the garbage disposal device modified for coupling tothe large size drain opening of a modern sink, satisfactory for use as adisposal outlet in disposing of garbage.

Referring to the drawings, it will be observed that the garbage disposaldevice herein disclosed generally includes a main housing 20 having anopen top closed by a cover 2! provided with a handle 22, enabling thecover to be swung and rotated in a generally horizontal plane to closeor open the open top of the housing 20. Suitable pivoting and latchingarrangement for the cover are incorporated in the device, but sincethese are of a character that can be chosen by any skilled mechanic fromthe related art and form no part of the present invention, they are nothere disclosed or referred to in this specification.

Within the housing 29 is the cutting arrangement generally in the formof a horizontal shaft 23 mounted at its ends in the housing 20, andhaving movable cutters or blades 24 rotating in vertical planes.

A supplementary housing 2'5 contains a water turbine 28 supplied withwater under pressure through an inlet pipe 29 which enters thesupplementary housing 27 and causes the turbine 28 to rotate, the waterthereupon being discharged through discharge openings 3| into theinterior of the housing 20 in which the cutter mean is located.

Inasmuch as the details of construction of the water turbine and of thevalve which controls the flow of water into the housing 27 to power theturbine are well within the province of the skilled mechanic in this artand form no part of the present invention, such details will not here bedisclosed nor referred to, it being understood that any suitablearrangement for feeding water under pressure into the turbine housing 21to power the turbine 28 and to discharge into the housing is through theopenings 3| for flushing past the cutter means is to be employed.

For safety sake, a suitable interlocking arrangement may be employedwhereby the closing of the cover 21 on the housing 20 is a prerequisiteto the opening of the valve which controls the flow of water underpressure into the turbine housing 21, but since such interlock means arewell known, and its details form no part of the present invention, suchdetails will not here be disclosed.

The bottom of the housing is normally open, but is adapted to be closedby a closure cap 36 connected through an elbow 31 and a pipe 38 to asuitable drain pipe as, for example, the vertical drain pipe 39 under asink. When the cap is in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 6 andelsewhere in the drawings, and particularly in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, theelbow 31 permits the housing 20 to be swung on a horizontal axisforwardly and downwardly from the position of Fig. 4 under a sink to theposition of Fig. 5 where the cover 2| is accessible and may easily berotated to expose the interior of the housing 20 for the receiving ofgarbage scraped from dishes. Thus, it can be seen that the garbagedisposal device, when so mounted, may be utilized without its beingcoupled to a drain opening in the sink above the unit, adapting the unitfor use with old-fashioned sinks having a drain opening too small tomeet modern requirements.

If desired, however, cap 36 may be rotated with respect to housing 20 tothe dotted line position shown in Fig. 6 so that the discharge from thehousing 20 will not be at right angles to the vertical axis of thathousing but will be through a bottom connected vertical drain pipe shownin the dotted line position. The selective positioning of the cap 36with respect to the housing 20, therefore, enables the housing to beconnected selectively to a horizontal axis pipe 38, as shown in Figs. 4and 5, or to a bottom connected vertical drain pipe, as shown in dottedlines in Fig. 6.

Figs. 9 and 10 disclose a modification wherein the cap 2| of the form ofFigs. 2 and 3 is replaced by a collar 48 and a threaded sleeve 4|, whichenable the housing 20 to be connected and coupled to the large sizedrain opening of the modern sink, in accordance with conventionalpractice with garbage disposal units now known. The connection of thecollar M2 to the housing 20 is established through screw bolts 42,whereby the same unit housing 20 may receive either a cap 2|, to enablethe device to be used interchangeably without coupling to the sink drainopening, or with a collar 40 and sleeve 4| to enable a unit to beconnected, if desired, to a drain opening of a sink. Thus, with onebasic unit, housing 20 and its cutting means 23-24 and its turbine 28,the unit may be formed for connection to a sink drain opening, as inFigs. 9 and 10, or independent of a sink drain opening, as in Figs. 2and 3. Similarly, a unit may be converted from the construction of Figs.2 and 3 to that of Figs. 9 and 10 and reverse, simply by replacing a cap2| by a collar and sleeve ill-4|, or reverse.

The cutting arrangement On shaft 23 are spaced discs 5| which defineslots in which are alternately positioned the cutting blades or hammers24, these being mounted on pins 55, which connect the hammers and thediscs 5| in a unitary assembly on the shaft.

There are in each slot one hammer and one hammer-detaining overcenterspring 51. All the springs are mounted on transverse pins 58, and thesepins also serve as hammer stops to limit outward travel of the hammers.The springs abut pins 55.

Inasmuch as each spring 51 is of the overcenter type, it will operate tohold or detain the hammer in the position of Fig. 7, where it cannotfunction for cutting. However, when shaft 23 is rotating at high speed,the hammer will be moved outwardly by the shaft, having attained a speedsuflicient to impart a centrifugal force to the hammers large enough toovercome the holding effect of the spring 51. Not until a very highspeed is obtained and maintained, and only so long as that speed ismaintained, will these hammers move outwardly for hammering or cuttingposition andmove the springs overcenter to bias the hammers outwardly.In the event the hammers strike garbage pieces too hard to be overcome,the hammers will then be moved backwardly or retracted automatically,suflicient to clear these obstructions and to throw the springs 51overcenter, at which time the springs will complete the movement of thehammers inwardly or retracted to enable the hammers to clear theobstructions, and the springs will again hold the hammers retracted.This is a very important feature of the cutter arrangement herein shown.

It is, of course, well known to use hammers which swing outwardly incutter arrangements under centrifugal force, but the arrangement hereindisclosed incorporates an overcenter spring for holding the springsretracted and for maintaining them retracted at all times except whenthe speed of the shaft reaches or maintains a very high level. Upon thehammers encountering obstructions which they cannot overcome, thehammers not only are withdrawn, but also throw the springs overcenter tohold the hammers against moving outwardly until the shaft speed againpicks up to its high level, at which time centrifugal force throws thehammers outwardly and also throws the springs overcenter so that thehammers again reach cutting position.

An upper baflle plate 50 has slots 5| in its lower edge through whichthe hammers 53 pass and the cooperation of these hammers with such slots6| enables the hammers to chew off from the mass of garbage above thecutters and held above them by the plate 60, bit by bit in particlessmall enough to enter the annular space 52 between the discs 5| and alower perforated cutter plate 63 through which fine particles of garbagemay be passed to be flushed out through the cap 35, the elbow 31, andthe pipe 38, to be drained to a sewer.

Cutters 53 will first chew off the mass of garbage above the cutterarrangement as the cutters pass through the slots 5|. The small bitsthus chewed off the mass will then be reduced in size by the cooperationof the cutters 53 and the lower cutter plate 63. No particles too largefor the annular space 62 can enter that space because of the barrierinterposed by the teeth between the slots 5| of the plate 60, and thusthe size of the particles which enter the lower cutter area aredetermined only by the action of the hammers 53 which break off piecesfrom the mass of garbage and subject these pieces to the action of thehammers in the lower cutting area 52.

Summary It will be observed that the drawings disclose a garbagedisposal device which is movably mounted under a sink without connectionto the sink drain opening, and that it is so designed as to beconvertible at will from the construction just described to aconstruction wherein the unit is connected to a large size sink drainopening, and vice versa. a

It will also be observed that the construction herein disclosedincorporates a double action cutter which will act upon a mass ofgarbage, first to chop it into small particles, small enough to enter asecond cutting area, wherein the small particles are reduced in size bythe action of the cutters and a lower cutting plate.

It will also be observed that the cutter blades are biased by overcentersprings which normally retain the cutter blades in inoperative orretracted position, releasing their restraint upon these cutter bladesonly when the cutters are rotating at a sufficiently high predeterminedspeed, with the springs operating to hold the cutters retracted in theevent the cutters are retracted by encountering obstacles which theycannot pass and in the event of a consequent reduction of speed of thecutting arrangements below the predetermined high speed,

Now having described the garbage disposal unit herein disclosed,reference should be had to the claims which follow:

We claim:

1. For use with an installed sink having a bottom drain opening, and avertical waste pipe below said sink and connected at its upper end tosaid opening, garbage comminuting and disposal device including ahousing formed with a bottom outlet, a swivel type conduit connectingsaid device at its outlet to said waste pipe at a point below said sinkto provide means for draining water and garbage from said device intosaid pipe and for swivelly mounting said device thereon to be movable toand from a position under said sink, and a water supply line inlet onsaid housing, said housing having an open top.

2. For use with an installed sink having a bottom drain opening, and avertical waste pipe below said sink and connected at its upper end tosaid opening, garbage comminuting and disposal device including ahousing formed with a bottom outlet, a swivel type conduit connectingsaid device at its outlet to said waste pipe at a point below said sinkto provide means for draining water and garbage from said device intosaid pipe and for swivelly mounting said device thereon to be movable toand from a position under said sink, and a water supply line inlet onsaid housing, said housing having an open top, said swivel connectionbeing of a character which swivels on a horizontal axis and thus enablessaid device to be tilted from a vertical position under said sinkforwardly and downwardly on a horizontal axis to a position exposingsaid housing top below and forward of said sink.

HUBERT M. CLARK. RAY A. DAHLSTROM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 571,588 Albrecht Nov. 17, 18961,174,656 Beokwith Mar. 7, 1916 1,459,622 Gallucci June 19, 19232,044,564 Carter June 16, 1936 2,172,188 Cather Sept. 5, 1939 2,220,729Powers Nov. 5, 1940 2,391,034 OBrien Dec. 18, 1945 2,501,275 Heller Mar.21, 1950 2,509,242 Miller et al May 30, 1950 2,536,930 Hammell Jan. 2,1951 2,547,708 Kreiner Apr. 3, 1951

